The best pitcher in the organization, the biggest impact arm, the most accomplished guy on the staff, faced down a $472 million lineup into the seventh inning Wednesday to outperform the Los Angeles Angels on the road.

Matt Garza wasn’t involved in the decision, however, as the Cubs beat the Angels 8-6 in 10 innings. Anthony Rizzo hit a three-run double in the 10th.

But in the process, Garza reminded anyone following the Cubs the last 18 months why the team’s No. 2 overall pick in Thursday’s draft might be the franchise’s most important selection in a decade or more.

Depending on what team honcho you talk to on what day, the Cubs are mulling one of the top pitchers in the draft — Oklahoma’s Jonathan Gray and Stanford’s Mark Appel — or University of San Diego third baseman Kris Bryant for their top pick. North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran also has been thrown in as a fourth lower-cost possibility.

What’s clear is they must get this pick right if the organizational overhaul is going to progress beyond a snail’s pace into its third season next year.

“You just want the guy to be an impact player,” said manager Dale Sveum, who has filed his reports on the top four considerations for the first pick and hasn’t heard much back from the hunkered-down front office in the last week or so.

Even Garza is more likely to be gone by the July 31 trading deadline than in a Cubs uniform next year.

With players getting locked up to long-term contracts earlier in their careers than ever before, those players aren’t reaching the free-agent market. Teams aren’t trading them away. And the Cubs’ debt-burdened ownership isn’t allowing aggressive, big-market bidding for international pitchers (the Cubs’ bids for Yu Darvish and Hyun-Jin Ryu getting swamped by the competition).

That makes the must-have of the draft for the Cubs either:

† Gray, who has the more powerful fastball but comes with recent revelations of a positive Adderall test (more a judgment concern than a performance-enhancing issue) and a late-developing commitment to conditioning;

† Or Appel, the more polished power pitcher who has the rare distinction of entering a second straight draft as the top-rated pitcher after having turned down $3.8 million from the Pittsburgh Pirates following last year’s No. 8 overall selection. The Cubs have $6.7 million allotted by MLB for their top pick (out of a $10.6 million top-10 budget).

“Gray’s the guy that improved a lot since last year and has a huge fastball,” said Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio, who watched video of both for the front office. “I think both could have fairly quick impacts. The overall consensus is Appel’s probably closer because he has more innings. Appel’s been in that limelight, the Friday Night Special guy. He’s been on that big stage, big spot.”